ARCHIVE NEWS - Please click here for past articles.

9th-13th July, 2008: Visiting archaeologists from Poland

Colleagues from the archaeological open air museum of Biskupin near Bydgoszcz will visit the Scottish Crannog Centre towards developing a new collaborative project. Biskupin features timber reconstructions of a 7th century BC lake settlement first discovered in the 1930's. The team there have learned valuable skills in timber building and preservation techniques and we hope to involve them in the restoration and maintenance work of our crannog reconstruction.

LOGBOAT PROJECT - throughout 2008

The first trees have been felled for a new experimental archaeology project to recreate as closely as possible two Bronze Age logboats - one discovered in Loch Tay and one in the River Tay, Perthshire. Compliments of Dunkeld Hilton House Hotel estates, Arboretum International, Forestry Commission Scotland, and the Perth & Kinross Countryside Trust, the Crannog Crew has taken delivery of long sections of Douglas Fir and Larch that were rotten and needed to be removed in the interests of public safety. These trees will provide the 'blanks' to practice on before using replica Bronze Age tools to create an authentic Bronze Age logboat.

LiveARCH 2008: Conference 3-7 March

Four members of the Crannog Crew travelled to the Lofoten Islands and the Vikingmuseum at Borg, Norway (www.lofotr.no) for the 4th liveARCH congress. The theme of this learning journey was marketing for archaeological open air museums. In addition, the 8 liveARCH partners exchanged information and updated each other on their project work which will culminate in: a new European Directory of Open Air Archaeological Museums; guidelines for the registration of such museums including quality standards; guidelines for live interpretation; recommendations for skills training; and maximising the links between research and public dissemination of information.

The Crew at Svolvaer, and the Chieftain's longhouse at the Lofotr Museum.

LiveARCH 2008: Skills Exchange Programme

The directors of the Scottish Crannog Centre will travel to Pfahlbaumuseum Unteruhldingen (www.pfahlbauten.de)
in Germany at the end of March for a specialist workshop in bronze working. The aim is to produce replicas of middle Bronze Age tools found in Scotland, which will be used in the creation of logboats based on discoveries in Loch Tay and in the River Tay (see below). Work on the logs will begin in the late Spring, and carry on throughout the summer.